1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a method of producing a scintillator detector array that may be used in various applications, such as, but not limited to, a positron emission tomography detector module or nuclear physics applications. More specifically, it relates to a method of producing a high resolution detector array that can be coupled to photodetectors. In certain applications, the photodetector provides an accurate timing pulse and initial energy discrimination, identification of the crystal interaction, which may include the depth of interaction (DOI).
2. Description of the Related Art
When constructing scintillator arrays, it is known to use block scintillator arrays with sawcut grooves packed with reflective media. However, this method is not feasible for producing arrays of individual crystals. It is also known to use reflective paint or to use reflector molds made of various reflective media. However, it is often desired to produce light output with greater depth dependence than these types of reflectors are capable of producing.
Finally, it is also known to hand wrap “plumbers” Teflon® tape around individual detectors as a standard reflector choice for research positron emission tomography cameras. However, plumbers Teflon® tape is not a realistic choice for large cameras and/or cameras that use very small crystals. Further, hand wrapping individual crystals is both time consuming and difficult to do consistently. Hand wrapping with Teflon® tape also limits the reduction of crystal size for future cameras. In addition, plumbers Teflon® tape, or thicker 8 mil Teflon® tape, is not an ideal reflector. It stretches and creeps resulting in difficulty in accurately covering that portion of the crystal's surface that is not coupled to a photodetector. The Teflon® tape also has a tendency to become transparent when squeezed, which occurs when making a compact scintillator crystal array, and when glue wicks through it. Moreover, it is difficult to wrap the individual crystals tightly with thicker 8 mil Teflon® tape resulting in inaccurate measures of depth dependence.
What is missing from the art is a method of disposing a reflector between each individual crystal of a high resolution detector array which can efficiently, consistently and accurately cover the desired surfaces of an individual crystal. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of producing a high resolution detector array having a reflector disposed between individual crystals of the array.